Bilaspur is the 45th largest Hindi speaking city of India with the total population of 3.3 Lakh. Major employment in Bilaspur is in Agriculture, Electric, Mining and in Food and beverage Industry. Bilaspur has 64% Agriculture workers, 34% Industry and other workers and 2% Household workers. Bilaspur is a good agricultural as well as mineral rich belt. Major river of Bilaspur is Arpa. Historically, Bilaspur was controlled by the Kalachuri dynasty of Ratanpur. The city, however, came into prominence around 1741, the year of the Maratha Empire rule, when a Maratha official took up his abode there. The management of Bilaspur district was taken over by the British Government in 1818. The city was taken over by the British East India Company of Great Britain in the year 1854 from the then ruler of the region, Bhosale of the Nagpur kingdom belonging to the Maratha Empire. Under Bhosale, there were many subedars or zamindars/landlords like Akbar Khan, Vazeer Khan, Sao and others in Bilaspur. Bilaspur district was constituted in 1861, followed by Bilaspur municipality in 1867.
